New Age News June 2004

Though the catastrophe that destroyed the dinosaurs' world may have begun with blazing fire, it probably ended with icy darkness.
A Dinosaur Auction is assailed for offering illegal fossils.
A frustrated Welshman is calling on the Bronze Age builders who built Stonehenge return to their homeland and install his central heating. They are, uh, dead, dude.
Tooth growing experiments bring smiles.
Honeybees' genes are the key to hive air conditioning.
Anyone for a little Texas Holdem? Here's a nice little article on the ancient history of games.
Pleasure receptors best known for helping the body respond to morphine and opium may also hold the key to mother-child bonding.
The U. S. Air Force is testing robots to protect bases and forward units. SkyNet alert.
Is polygraph testing junk science?
The world's weather goes electric.
Scientists report that they have found a naturally decaffeinated version of the world's most popular coffee bean.
New light is shed on dark energy.
German Scientist Werner von Braun anticipated terrorists, asteroids and ETs on American's 'Enemy's List'.
Bob White (TDG News Briefs 22-06-2004) is finding that his UFO discovery is a tough sell.
Learn why a human being does not live 1,000-years anymore.
A team of scientists has discovered two new molecules in an interstellar cloud near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Here's some great pictures of the first flight of SpaceShipOne, the first private venture ship to leave earth's atmosphere and enter space.

Quote of the Day:

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

Douglas Adams

Archdruid of Wales wants Stonehenge returned. Didn't the workpersons mean to build it there? "Syllddddsbpphyry, not Salisbury you idiots!"
Origins of farming pushed back 10,000 years to 23,000 BCE..
The Long Man of Wilmington chalk figure may be only a few centuries old.
Gypsy groups accuse IBM of aiding Nazi mass-murder.
Not to be outdone, Holocaust victims sue Germany for $18 billion for holding stolen artworks.
Random noise in our visual systems may be the key to the enigma of the Mona Lisa's smile.
Listen to the birth cry of the cosmos. Five million years compressed into 5 seconds.
NASA plans cash prizes in wake of SpaceShipOne's success.
Astrobiology analyses Cassini's flyby of Saturn's mysterious moon, Phoebe.
Where will travellers of the 21st century look for destinations of interest?
Get out your prospecting gear Bill: Texas hit by asteroid 58 million years ago.
Bigfoot - "There's a ton of evidence...a mountain of evidence. The problem is that none of that evidence is any good.
Bigfoot - "We have enough evidence here to warrant a government investigation into this creature..."
One of Scotland's most distinguished astronomers and paranormal researchers, Professor Emeritus Archie Roy, speaks his mind.
WHO warns of dangers of alternative and herbal medicines. What's on second.
Creative side unlocked by stroke.
Holograms - high art or just a gimmick?
Scientists cultivate beautiful silicon nano-flowers.
Net pioneer predicts the future web.
Suspicion of spyware on latest Beastie Boys CD. I'm tellin' y'all it's a sabotage.
'Mighty Mouse' gene found in humans.
This looks like fun...new X-Box and PS2 game: "Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy". Perhaps I should buy an X-Box before I buy the game.
St. George found in Welsh church.
Welsh helped build Stonehenge.
Mystery of the Voynich manuscript.
Cereals sought much earlier than thought.
Rock face mystery baffles experts.
Anomalies in first private spaceflight revealed.
Probing the world of alien abduction stories.
Comet not a dirty snowball? Wouldn't surprise me.
Your life in the hands of your postal worker.
All disruptive children to be forcibly medicated?
The Anti-Defamation League has called on the Texas Republican Party to modify its party platform calling America a Christian nation.
US media's dirty little secret.
Judge compares Bush rise to power with Hitler and Mussolini.
Iran stands ready to attack the West.
Like religion, science isn't a unified set of principles: it's a bunch of politicized factions.
Extraterrestrial impact created in the lab.

SpaceShipOne makes history. A blow-by-blow narrative. And the funky dude behind it all: Paul Allen.
The planetary uncertainty principle. Should we terraform Mars?
The cosmic collision that gave birth to our Moon.
UFO connection to crop circles still unsure.
Bob White wants you to see his metallic object, which he saw fall off a UFO.
Naked shoppers hunt for bargains in London shopping centre. I guess you could pick the shop-lifters by the way they walk.
The town of Blind River is right out of the X-Files - something is moving clocks ahead by 10 minutes.
Does the music talk to you? That's because it's language, dummy.
Mmmm, pork fat covered in chocolate. 'Supersize me' has nothing on this...
Wireless pebbles to track glaciers. Personally I haven't seen too many wired up pebbles.
Nuclear terror a matter of time. Sounds like a good time to buy a country home.
Douglas Adams' voice to appear in new radio adaptation of the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
More on the Welsh creators of Stonehenge.
Study finds that dogs predict epileptic seizures in children - and what's more act to protect them.
Global study links climate change to rise in asthma rates in children.
Scientists have engineered a virus which curbs cocaine cravings.
How to trick cancer cells into committing suicide.
Smoking triggers genetic changes.
The Earth Simulator retains its place as the world's fastest supercomputer. That's right folks, this is just a simulation. The real thing will begin in 2012.
But finally, to the important question: why do men have nipples?

Quote of the Day:

We believe no more in Bonaparte's fighting merely for the liberties of the seas than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties of mankind. The object is the same, to draw to themselves the power, the wealth and the resources of other nations

Thomas Jefferson

Meanwhile, Timothy Good says that aliens have been living on Earth for a long time....and we're not the ones running the place. Douglas Adams was on to something...
Ghostly activity may be on the increase in Wisconsin.
David Booth, the disposable prophet of the apocalypse.
Documentary shines light on the sex magick of former conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
3CPO and Astroboy are to be inducted in the Robot's Hall of Fame. Wonder if there'll be a jam as good as Prince's induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame?
SpaceShipOne takes off for the 100km mark today - but is it a historic flight or just stunt-flying? Would you climb aboard for the first flight? Even if you don't make launch time, here's a viewer's guide.
Astrobiology has posted the final instalment of the Great Terraforming Debate. The previous five articles are linked from the bottom of the page if you haven't been keeping up.
Should we rename Comet Wild 2 to 'Dark City'?
Adding a chromosome may be just the trick for gene therapies to treat genetic diseases. 46&1 is just ahead of me.
WHO lists Europe's top 5 child-killers.
Future cities to swelter in summer.
Archaeologists seek to unlock answer to mystery anchors.

The skull of Tyrannosaurus rex acted like a giant shock absorber to support his flesh-ripping lifestyle.
The mystery of the longest surviving mammoths.
Scientists have discovered skeletons in southern Mexico that could be more than 3,000 years old. Olmecs? Video and pics.
The huge mound on the Rum River couldn't be a burial site because, 'It's beyond human comprehension, building something like that'.
Ancient maps and corn help track the migrations of indigenous people.
Egyptian tombs older than the great pyramids of Giza reveal a complex society.
Federal police have seized dinosaur eggs and fossils worth millions of dollars during raids south of Perth.
If research released by the Vatican is right, the Inquisition was not as bad as one might think.
A guy in Tanzania laced his wife's half-eaten body with poison to kill rogue lions that are terrorizing villages. It worked.
Donkeys once heehawed out of Africa.
Chinese panda porn results in a pregnant female. Kinky.
It's not exactly the Star Trek transporter, but scientists have performed a successful teleportation on atoms for the first time.
Pollution controls are going very well in California. The woman who helped design Southern California's pollution-credit anti-smog program was arrested for allegedly defrauding companies.
Scientists say they have found how to change promiscuous wayward males into attentive home-loving husbands. Make them into steers?
The high priest of British white witches plans to contact Nessie's ghost in a séance.
The secret Cold War program Skyhook was the likely progenitor of many key aspects of UFO mythology.
The surface of this comet surprised NASA.
Researchers show how Jupiter's moon Io vaporize rock gases into atmosphere.
Did comets flood Earth’s oceans?
How would aliens from Mars view us?

Quote of the Day:

New and stirring things are belittled because if they are not belittled, the humiliating question arises, 'Why then are you not taking part in them?'

H. G. Wells

Archaeologist solves mystery of monk who stole the bones of a saint.
Review of Ancient Medicine (Amazon US/UK) by Vivian Nutton, which details the story of ancient medicine from early Greece (8th century BC) to Late Antiquity (7th century AD).
Project Ghost Hunt has plenty of fun with pub spirits after closing time. It's a one-liner with no extra help required.
Ghosts also for San Antonio Paranormal Investigators at the Jailhouse Cafe.
President Bush's Moon to Mars Commission labels NASA a 'relic of the Apollo age'. Sounds like NASA's about to be torn apart.
Perhaps not if John Kerry is elected: "NASA is an invaluable asset to the American people and must receive adequate resources to continue its important mission of exploration."
Utah rocks could help explain Martian 'blueberries'.
Astrobiology continues its excellent 7-part series on the 'Great Terraforming Debate' with Part 3. Also see Part 1 and 2. Tres cool astrobiologist David Grinspoon is one of the participants, make sure you read my review of his book Lonely Planets as well - definitely worth purchasing, it's a great read (available from Amazon US and UK).
Octupuses have a preferred arm. I know left and right, but what do we call the ones in-between? And shouldn't that be octopi?
Five UFOs in the sky above Emley.
Are mountain lions attacking pets in Kentucky?
Medical implants to be powered by body heat.
UK and US conspiring on nukes?
Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a lightning-like beam of electricity across them are being readied for sale to military and police forces in the US and Europe. And the funny thing is - we pay the wages of these government research organisations. Go figure.
Astounding discovery from old moon images.
Fractional Reserve Banking as Economic Parasitism.
I sing the body's pattern recognition machine.
An inflatable space.
Acid-fast bacteria implicated in prostate cancer?
Corruption of intelligence has caused the greatest foreign policy catastrophe in modern U.S. history.
Why did Ike support revising the pledge of allegiance.
Are there really mole people living under New York City?
Odd (b)lack hole defies explanantion.
Cannabis triggers transient schizophrenia-like symptoms. Next: cannabis can reduce symptoms of autism.
Phoebe's surface reveals clue to origin.
Bioterror grand jury trial begins for art professor.
Rupert Sheldrake: The need for open-minded scepticism - a reply to David Marks.
Some think telepathy is biologically based.
In the shadow of Babylon.

Quote of the Day:

There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, and the third is useless.

Machiavelli

Teenagers really like the new magazine-style Revolve Bible. Wonder what'll be in the next issue?

'Invisibility cloak' inventor looks to make invisible walls, as others worry about the criminal implications. "It would become incredibly difficult to spot a thief...if the items they were taking were simply disappearing under the cloak." Ummm, doesn't that happen with a normal cloak/coat/pocket anyhow?

Memory fails under stress, throwing into doubt witness testimony extracted during psychological trauma.

Cocaine vaccine stops addiction.

Independent inquiry to be held into Gulf War Syndrome.

Scientists determine solar storm speed limit. Who's going to give the Sun a ticket?

Taiwanese space authorities say they may sell imagery from their brand-spankin' Earth Observation satellite.

Cassini sends back some nice pictures of Phoebe. No, not some Italian voyeur on holiday...it's the Cassini space probe.

Milky Way's satellite enigma solved.

Giving life back to Mars - a debate on terraforming the Red Planet. Astrobiology just keeps serving up the tasty stuff.

Nessie, UFOs, and ghosts - where are they all? I think the best measure of weirdness is my spare time...and it has been non-existent for a couple of months. Somebody pass on a few decent web addresses to this guy.

Analysis of the Utah UFO. Obviously can't be a UFO as we're in a weirdness drought.

But wait, there's more - exhibition traces UFO signs in Slovakia.

Researcher returns for another crack at the Sumatran Yeti (known to his friends as orang-pendek).

What do you do with a piece of UFO? Leave it at the scene like a hubcap?

American travel writer Bill Bryson wins the Aventis Prize for his book A Short History Of Nearly Everything (Amazon US/UK).

Richard Branson sets the record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle. If Sir Rich needs to spend big to keep himself entertained, me and my balloon animals are just waiting for the call.

Iraqi authorities smash illegal trade in ancient artifacts.

Quote of the Day:

What if Earth
Be but t' shadow of Heaven, and things therein,
Each to the other like more than on earth is thought?

Milton

Fossil finds source of ancient mythical creatures. "And lo Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus... with a splinter in his paw."
Astrology: searching for respect.

French Quarter ghosts identified. I'm guessing they didn't use dental records.
Are Out of Body Experiences (OBEs) just a result of a ticklish angular gyrus?
Is there a better way to spend a Saturday than at a Skunk Ape festival?
People don't want to go to Lake County Jail, and not just for the obvious reason. Disembodied voices, physical manifestations and moving crosses all add to the cheery atmosphere.
The Irish Pompeii.
Chinese used complex machines to work jewellry more than 2,500 years ago.
Community announcement: have you lost a gold-coloured wonder-bra? People over 1,000 years of age only please.
Five mummified skulls found in the Peru mail. That would have to be a big padded envelope..
Everyone's talking about the family house in New Zealand bombarded with a stone from heaven.
Space station in peril.
Virgin boss Richard Branson heads for space. Hot tip is to avoid the space station Rich.
Why all the twins suddenly in Sydney?
Miracle recoveries...they ain't so miraculous.
Spinal repair robot gets FDA nod.
Microscopy has moved into the pico level. Rough translation: really freakin' small!
Dogs understand languages. Qualifer required: 'a few'. And not before 'languages'.

Quote of the Day:

We all walk in mysteries. We are surrounded by an atmosphere of which we do not know what is stirring in it, or how it is connected with our own spirit. So much is certain, that in particular cases we can put out the feelers of our soul beyond its bodily limits, and that a presentiment, nay, an actual insight into the immediate future, is accorded to it.

Goethe

Global warming. Rising sea levels. Massive volcanic activity around the world. Widespread erosion. It’s not a scene from the latest Hollywood disaster film, The Day After Tomorrow, but the Earth as it appeared during the mid- to late-Cretaceous geological period, 135-million to 65-million years ago, when the largest dinosaurs ruled the planet.
The smallest dinosaur was the size of a sparrow!
Rat study elucidates long-ago human migration.
A Mayan priest comments about the rare Venus transit. Yeah, well, what does he know? ;o)
Archaeologists have dug up a thousand-year-old padded bra.
Spiral patterns carved into a small jade ring show use of complex machines more than 2500-years ago.
A former circus owner bought Wookey Hole a year ago and said the bones of a witch should be returned to the cave there. Toss-up.
Hoping to learn more about undersea volcanoes, scientists capture an underwater eruption on tape. Do those eruptions make the water warmer?
Why the 'Lost Gospels' lost out.
Soaking string in the blood of a black dog and wrapping it around homes offers protection from the dreaded phi porp – a female ghost that kills married men and eats their innards. Some days it just doesn't pay to be a black dog.
Follow-up: Everyone's got an opinion on the photo of a mysterious creature.
Here's some good news for those people who talk to dogs. That's you, isn't it?
The world's most famous endangered species, the Chinese giant panda, appears to be in much better shape than previously thought.
New research shows that the seasons may be involved in the onset of menopause.
The tale of a boy whose brain keeps telling him he's still hungry.
It's big head and bulging eyes, this ugly-cuss, rare sea creature washes ashore. Click on the 'IMAGES'.
Pumping energy to nanocrystals from a quantum well.
Microscopy moves to the picoscale.
UA study on near-death experiences looks at brain.
See the flood plains on Mars courtesy of the the ESA Mars Express spacecraft.
Pterosaurs are still living on the islands of Papua New Guinea. Lots of videos of people that have seen Pterosaurs; no video of Pterosaurs.
This odd black hole defies explanation. Don't they all?

Quote of the Day:

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.

Hector Berlioz

Latest ice cores give Earth's climate a clean bill of health for the next 15,000 years. You can pull your trousers up now Miss Gaia.
Travelling England, getting a bit of Yin-Yang out of crop circles. Beautiful area the south of England, replete with stunning megaliths...make sure you visit sometime in your life.
A review of Megalithic Mysteries Of Cornwall.
If Spirit doesn't make it up the hill, perhaps one day this little sucker will.
Moon-Mars report to be released a little late, on June 16.
Some lovely images of the Venus transit. The cosmic dance continues...
Heart of French boy king finds a resting place at last.
Perfect pterosaur found in fossil egg. Mmmm, fossil eggs.
Rainer W. Kühne's "Location and dating of Atlantis".
The golden ratio, the source of all things divine. Bunkum, apparently.
Before tackling Titan, the Cassini probe will fly-by Phoebe.
When is a UFO not a UFO? When it's sometimes a man-made UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Check out the gallery, and see what I mean.
Nigeria divided over ban on television miracles. I define a television miracle as turning on the TV and finding something on that is actually worth watching.
Ghosts and paranormal phenomena in Pacheco Pass.

Quote of the Day:

Today history is what we say it is.

Unnamed Television Executive

The interplanetary day after tomorrow. #1. #2. #3.
Dinosaur's secret is in small print.
Theory of early human migration patterns proposes the North.
Proof for the Riemann hypothesis?
Elephants turn to seismic communication.
Origin of enigmatic galactic filaments revealed?
We weren't made to multitask.
Eco glass cleans itself with Sun.
Black hole illuminates dust cloud.
Is Genghis Khan an Ancestor? Mr. DNA Knows.
The thermochemical joy of cooking.
Step on the gas.
Rat DNA clue to sea migration.
Small world's big achievement.
Sloppy stats shame science.
Bold motorists clear roads.
Signs of 8000 year old culture found near Bedford.

Quote of the Day:

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Archimedes

Want to see something no living person has witnessed before? Check out the solar transit of Venus today (just you and the other billion people). Like a good parent, I'll ask that you take protection with you.
On July 1st, we'll get closer to Saturn than we have ever done before, courtesy of the Cassini probe. They'll have to set up a cable TV channel devoted entirely to space exploration soon.
Explanation put forward for Milky Way galaxy's mysterious filaments. Perhaps it's unravelling.
NASA decides on high-risk plunge into crater for Mars rover Opportunity.
Brisbane statue still far from miraculous. Quite the publicity-gainer though.
Ghostbusters called into haunted theatre. Two decades on, but it seems ghostbusting is becoming a respectable profession.
Can dying people postpone their death until after a meaningful event has passed? New research says no.
Maverick inventor's amazing electric motor uses permanent magnets to its advantage. Don't we all love a maverick inventor.
Farmers to control wi-fi herds from home like a computer game? Good news for Grandma Grail who was target practice for one of her cows last weekend.
Biotech crops cropping up where they shouldn't.
Is the world's oil running out quickly? Hard to tell - one news story says this, the next says oil is here to stay. Perhaps we should all run our engines 24/7 and settle this debate quickly.
Hospital tests barcoding of patients. Here's hoping you're never labelled 'out of stock'.
The skylarks did it! Crop circles help boost skylark populations.
Ancient Islamic map shows egg-shaped England.
Petra: an eroding archaeological treasure.
US doctor loses job after suggesting we are paranoid about the dangers of the sun, and need to spend some time outdoors to improve our Vitamin D levels. Beware the orthodoxy Dr Holick!
New research techniques could end animal testing.
Diabetes linked to bowel cancer.

Quote of the Day:

I remember hearing once of a little dying child shrinking timidly from the idea of going alone; but just before the end there came a spirit of sublime confidence, a supernatural opening of vision, a recognition of some companionship, and the little one cried out: 'I am not afraid; they are all here.' ... I believe the chamber of the dying is filled with the holy angels.

Basil Wilberforce